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Charcoal

Charcoal Discs are self-lighting and long-burning mini charcoal tablets. They can be used to burn resins, incense, powdered herbal blends or dried herbs. Swift Lite is a top quality brand; they burn evenly and stay lit.

In order to maintain freshness, opened rolls should be resealed and stored in a cool dry place. Effective storage will ensure quick lighting and a long burning time.

Remove a tablet from the sealed roll and place it in a censer or a heat proof dish. Light the edge of the tablet with a match or taper. The tablet will then light across its surface. The tablet should be left to burn out and cool in the censer. To extinguish a tablet before it has fully cooled, quench in a container of cold water.

DO NOT HOLD THE TABLET IN YOUR HAND WHEN LIT!

When the tablet has been lit, do not handle it, as it will cause a burn. Do not dispose of the ash remains in a waste paper bin, as this may cause a fire. Do not hold the tablet in your hand when lighting or when burning.

Lack of proper charcoal management is the main reason why a hookah will not taste right. What we want to do is get enough heat to "toast" the molasses but not go overboard with it so that it burns the molasses too quick without getting any flavor out of it.

There are two different kinds of charcoal that people use. One kind of charcoal that people use are "quick lights" (Swift Lite, starlight, three kings, three queens). Quick lights are simply; easy lighting charcoal. Most of them start right up within seconds of being in contact with a flame.
The other kind of charcoal that people use are "natural wood coals" (el-wady, baroody).
Natural coals are different then quick lights in that you have to place them in a pre-existing fire to get them to start up. For example, I get my natural coals lit by making a mini camp fire outside with sticks and some lighter fluid. Then putting the natural coals in the fire for a few minutes until they get lit. It isn't recommended to use natural coals indoors for obvious reasons. Below is a comparison between natural coals and quick lights.

Natural Coals

Advantages
- Cleaner, you get a more natural taste from the bowl
- Cheaper
- Lasts longer then Quick Lights
- Get hotter then Quick Lights (Heat management is a MUST with natural coals, unless you enjoy
changing bowls every 20 minutes)

Disadvantages
- Harder to get lit then Quick Lights
- Carry a black dust which makes natural coals messier then Quick Lights
- Not recommended for indoors

Recommended Use
The best time to use Natural Coals is when you are outdoors and plan on smoking a bunch of bowls. Or if you are having a hookah party with many hookahs, then Natural Coals would be extremely convenient to have.

Quick Lights

Advantages
- Convenient and easy to light up
- They are all the same size, so heat variations are not a problem.
- Easy to use indoors

Disadvantages
- Some no-name brand of Quick Lights contain excess amounts of lighter fluid and the fumes alter the taste of the molasses.
- More expensive then Natural Coals
- Die out quicker then Natural Coals

Recommended Use
The best time to use Quick Lights is when you plan on relaxing and smoking a bowl or two....or three......When you are too lazy, or not motivated enough to go through the effort of lighting up Natural Coals.

If you are going to use the quick lights, place a lit coal on the outside of the bowl first. Wait 2 minutes and then add another coal on another outer area of the bowl. Usually two charcoals will do the job, but some people like going overboard with the smoke and add a third charcoal 25 minutes into the smoking session when the first two begin to die down. It is not recommended to put a third charcoal on that soon, but if you are an experienced hookah smoker, and you know how to manage your charcoals, then you could pull it off and get quite a nice smoke from it. The other thing you need to worry about is heat management. About every five minutes, you should move the charcoal to a new place on the bowl on the outsides, and eventually moving them closer and closer to the inside. If the charcoal is placed on the same region of the bowl for too long, it will just burn the tobacco to the point it turns crispy and hard; ruining the flavor of the whole bowl. What we want to do is savor and use our molasses to it's fullest potential, and waste as little of it as possible. Heat management, and moving the coals every 5-10 minutes is a crucial technique that most people neglect when smoking hookah.

Beirut Gate Charcoal is long burning charcoal that can last for 3 hours !!! It has no chemicals. 40 off 30mm square x 40mm long pieces. 1kg in weight. Place 1 piece on the gas cooker, start it burning and then place on the shisha.
1 Kilogram of the Zoghal Ghaleb Lemon charcoal, very popular in the Arabic country’s. Low odour, Low greenhouse gas and high temperature burning also no chemical ingredients. This has a Lemon fresh burn smell and does not affect the taste of the molasses.
Al-Amir 60 Large Size (36mm Diameter X 15mm Height) Charcoal Discs
80 Normal Size (31mm Diameter X 12mm Height) Charcoal Discs

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